It’s weird to see pictures of myself pregnant again. But if we’re celebrating BABY, then we must celebrate pregnancy too.

And here is the one and only maternity project I sewed. A semi-homemade ruched shirt:I bought this long T-shirt/tunic top from Old Navy a few years ago. And wore it once on the blog when sharing the Big Bag (made from a couch cushion slip cover from the IKEA as-is bin).But it always felt like a maternity shirt to me. So when my belly started growing, I started wearing it with leggings. I even wore it to the Alt Design Summit when teaching my class. It looked pretty cute. But then I actually saw the photos of myself in the shirt….. Yikes. Not so cute. The shirt made me look bigger than I was, since the bottom wasn’t contour with my body. Not very flattering.

But…..with simple ruching on the side it was an easy fix! (In fact ruched shirts from Target made up a majority of my wardrobe during my pregnancy).This is very easy to do.

• Start with a long shirt (easy to find at Target, Forever 21, Old Navy, the usual suspects) • You want the shirt to fit you well on the top. So, if you happen to find a cute shirt on clearance that’s too big for you, you could always take it in a bit on the sides so it fits better and leave more room on the bottom for your big belly (sorry, no tutorial on this but I’m sure you could google it and find one). • Basically, you want a long T-shirt similar to the one below.Okay…. • On the side seam of the shirt, measure from the chest area down to the hem of the shirt. • Cut a piece of elastic that’s 1/2 to 3/4 of that length (skinny 1/4 inch wide elastic works best).

NOTE: – There’s no rhyme or reason to this. Just do what works best with your shirt size, guestimating how much you want it to ruche up. – Ruching means gathered on both sides, rather than gathered on one side, such as the Simple Skirt.

Next…. • On the inside side seam, pin the elastic down the length of the shirt. • First pin it to the seam just below where your chest would be. Then pin it at the bottom of the shirt. Then pin it in the middle. Then continue splitting the difference so you have it pinned in about 8 spots. Remember that the elastic is smaller than the area you’re pinning, which is what you want. The elastic will stretch as you sew and gather the shirt up with it.• Sew the elastic to the side seam. Start at the top of the elastic and use two hands to pull the elastic taut, down to the next pin. Sew to that point, remove the pin and do the same thing down to the next pin. Continue this all the way down to the bottom.At this point you have ruched sides!

Now….because my shirt was especially long, I also added elastic around the front bottom of the shirt to help it “cradle” around my belly even more. – Cut a piece of 1/2 inch wide elastic that’s appx 2/3 the length of the front hem. – Pin it in place as we did above. – Sew it by stretching from pin to pin.Done!A much improved maternity shirt. This actually become one of my favorite shirts to wear in the final pregnancy months.And in case you’re wondering….no I don’t always wear leggings so exposed like that. This shirt worked better with a pair of yoga pants I had from Forever 21.

And in case you’re also wondering what I looked like on a day-to-day pregnancy basis, here you go. Keeping-it-real photo:Dude I look hammered. Growing a baby is serious business.

We had twins in June 2011, born at 25 weeks. Our boys were 1 lb 8 oz and 2 lbs. Sadly, we lost one of our boys at birth. In memory of him, I have been working on a project to sew tiny flannel diapers to donate to local hospitals. The hospitals give 2 diapers to each family who has lost a child, one for the baby to wear, and one for the family to keep as a keepsake. I just finished my first 60 diapers and will be delivering them this week! I wish there wasn’t a need for these, but I hope they can bring comfort to other families in the midst of tragedy. If you want more info or are interested in helping, this is the website. http://teenytears.blogspot.com/

Oh sure, now that I’m done with babies (so my hubby says), now I find a way to make shirts look nice?

Heehee… “..you could always take it in a bit on the sides so it fits better and leave more room on the bottom for your big belly (sorry, no tutorial on this but I’m sure you could google it and find one).” No tutorial on what, exactly? How to get the big belly?? Yes, I’m sure there are a few examples of how to get one of those on the internet. ;P

This is great! I’m not pregnant (hopefully someday), but I have a couple shirts that are too long that I’d LOVE to add ruching to! I’ve tried sewing elastic once before with a straight stitch and it didn’t seem to work. The bottom looks like a zigzag stitch; is that what you typically use for this? Thanks a bunch!

Dana Dana! Always doing amazing things. I think I am all done with the prego stage but How I wish I had this in mind when I was having babies. I will have to keep this in mind for all my tiny friends having babies and trying to make big clothes look good. Great tutorial!

This shirt makes me want to be pregnant again!! It is so cute! I miss my cute pregnant belly all I have now is my not pregnant belly and no matter how much elastic i add it isn’t cute 🙁 OK I don’t really miss being huge and uncomfortable and I am so happy to with baby being out and a thinner belly.

I totally agree with you about the fitted shirts being the most flattering. My friend gave me a bunch of cute maternity dresses, but when I put them on, I felt big as a barn! I attempted this when I was preggo and it turned out pretty cute. Good idea to put elastic along the bottom too. LOVE the last pic….thx for keeping it real!! 🙂

Hello..it´s a lovely idea..and not just for pregnancy woman, it´s really good. But y love this bag, the jean´s bag…it´s beatyful too, please put the DiY soon. Thank you and I allways reed your blog, Sory by my english i know it´s bad…kisses for all..!!!!!!!

Great post. According to others I am always “all baby”– or whatever that means! ha! It’s always tough to find really cute clothes that will cover my massive baby belly. ahhaa you say hammered.. i say “glowing”.– from a mommy who has had 3 kids in 4 years! amazing! woot woot! 🙂

After my daughter had her twins, I did something similar to ‘take in’ the huge (to fit those twins!) maternity knit tops she had, being she was going to have the post babies belly for a while! I bet you could also cut the side seam and take the tops IN and re-elasticize the sides for a SKINNY ruched top!

You are so funny. . . Growing a baby IS serious work, you are right. I think it’d make round ligament pain and a sore back seem less of a bummer if I could wear a cute homemade shirt like this one, though! Thanks for the great tutorial. Some people like to keep this knowledge to themselves but you went on ahead and shared it. thank you!

Hello there – just was introduced to your blog. You are inventive, creative, and HYSTERICAL! Ok, question: in sewin on the elastic in the side seems and the bottom, did you zig zag? The bottom looks it. Thanks!

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Lqtm. Your comment about looking hammered. My baby sister was pregnant with her first baby last year and towards the end of her pregnancy she was upset that I never told her that pregnancy would be like waking up with a hangover every single day for nine months. You want to be real with people about pregnancy without scaring them. A sense of humor is excellent to have while in human creation mode.